Car: 1, me: 0

It was dark and raining, and I was in the cycle lane about to go straight over a junction when a car turned left into my lane and into me. I went over the handle bars, possibly over the bonnet, and landed on my knee, shortly followed by my face.

I was on the tarmac for about an hour; a small crowd, three teams of medics and a GP helped to check me out, cut off my clothing, and get me onto a stretcher and into hospital. I came out several hours later with nine stitches in two wounds, crutches, bandages, and 0.5 less of a tooth than I went in with.

I’m returning to work gradually and may take longer to reply to emails for a week or so. The whole experience was rather a shock, but things are slowly returning to normal.

Sorry to hear about the accident and to see the damage! I hope you make a quick and full recovery.

As I recall from my own, distant-past experiences of cycling in (suburban) Manchester, the few over-the-handlebar incidents were all my own fault and thankfully not performed in traffic. I hope that the experience doesn’t put you off from returning to the saddle.

Thanks guys. Leg is a bit battered; will be on crutches for another week or so. Yes the facial scars won’t do me any harm, help me look less of a typical geek perhaps.

The accident has certainly diminished my fervour for cycling, but I don’t think that it will put me off altogether. Apart from anything else there isn’t any other way to get about much of Manchester if you don’t have a car.

Yup, just got off crutches yesterday, and now the stitches are out, my face is far less scary. I won’t be cycling or playing badminton for a few weeks, and I’ll be glad when the microscopic bits of tarmac are all out of my chin, but all-in-all I’m very pleased with the progress of my recovery. Thanks for asking!